Commercial growth at Centerra, 2534 kicks back into high gear

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The sign near the road has been promising “new retail coming soon” for seemingly years without even a speck of dust moving to make way for one four-wall gem or another.

But that’s all about to change — for the Centerra and 2534 developments skirting Interstate 25 and U.S. 34, 15 miles west of Greeley.

The sprawling developments, both of which kicked off together around 2006-07, had been relatively idle throughout the recession, but McWhinney and 2534 officials are back to the plate, ready to swing away.

“We’re doing a ton of work there now,” said Jay Hardy, general manager of Centerra.

Added Ryan Schaefer of Chrisland, which is marketing property at 2534 across the highway: “The pipeline is really filling up, and there’s a lot of activity going on, everything from additional restaurant activity to office, even industrial.”

The two are a part of a recent commercial scramble across northern Colorado with approvals of a redevelopment of the Foothills Mall in Fort Collins, a new Costco planned for Timnath, additions of Bass Pro Shops at Centerra and some west Greeley retail amid the city’s oil and gas boom.

All are projects that have potential to reshape an ever-evolving commercial landscape in northern Colorado, Hardy said.

“One could argue the retail landscape has really shifted in northern Colorado, and some of the power center components shifted again when Greeley got some great projects in west Greeley,” Hardy said.

“I believe we need to be cautious ourselves. It’ll shift again with the Foothills Mall. There’s this constant evolving dynamic. Who knows what Costco is going to do coming into Timnath? With Bass Pro (coming into the market), there are stores in Loveland, Fort Collins and Greeley that will have some negative effect.”

Once thought to be the death knell for the Greeley retail scene, Centerra hasn’t quite drilled the last nail in the coffin. Greeley retail sales taxes grew 9 percent in 2013 vs. 2012. And more new retail is coming all the time, with Panera Bread’s recent opening, the upcoming opening of Chick-fil-A, new downtown eateries and an Ulta and Village Inn coming to Centerplace shopping center.

Construction will begin in May on the 26-acre Centerra lot at the northwest corner of U.S. 34 and Centerra Parkway. It will be anchored by the Bass Pro Shops and a Courtyard by Marriott, a four-story, 110-room hotel. Several shops, restaurants and office buildings will be built in the lots around them, and most will open at the same time.

All are slated to be completed in 2015, and be the first of many additions to the east side of the Centerra developments which, when it’s completed at full tilt, will be more than 3,000 acres of residential, commercial and industrial uses, sprawling both sides of the highway.

On the west side — which holds the Loveland Outlet Mall and the Marketplace at Centerra — a huge dust storm of earthwork has set the stage for the first 200 of almost 800 residential units on the east side of Boyd Lake in Loveland.

The project will be called The Lakes, offering patio homes, multifamily, and community amenities, as well as a K-8 school.

McWhinney recently sold four lots to homebuilders for a collective $6.8 million. Construction is underway, and the first home models will be available this summer, Hardy said.

In the next couple of months, McWhinney will begin marketing about 60 of 110 acres directly east of the Bass Pro lot for more retail, entertainment and residential units, as well as another potential hotel.

“The cool component is a public space with water features and entertainment, where we can do wine festivals and smaller events, or much bigger events that play into a multibuilding area,” Hardy said.

That lot, along U.S. 34 and Centerra Parkway, was at first going to a completely different concept called Grand Station, complete with a trolley, which was a vertical development with retail on the bottom, office on the second floor, and apartments on the top floors. McWhinney officials abandoned that idea after the recession, finding that lenders weren’t too keen on financing projects that relied on all three components to work.

The latest at 2534 is an AG Spanos multi-family project, 254 luxury apartments.

Schafer said Chrisland in the next two months will sell 10.5 acres to Ag Spanos, a nationwide multifamily development company, which also owns the San Diego Chargers, to begin the project.

In August, USA Liberty out of Fort Collins plans to pull building permits to build the Liberty Firearms Institute, a 100,000-square-foot, indoor firing range, complete with a gun store, a restaurant and classroom space in the 2534 development.

Liberty General Manager Heather Rubel said the project is on schedule and should take nine to 12 months to build. When all is complete, the range will have 60 firing lanes in seven bays.

While all of the major commercial areas are all competing for essentially the same projects — 2534 and Centerra both lost out on Costco and Cabela’s, for example — the key now is to find more of a “cool factor,” Hardy said.

“When you come to Centerra, it’s fairly predictable,” Hardy said. “There’s a Target, Dicks, Victoria Secret, Best Buy, Finish Line. Those retailers have a really good solid base. When you look and say what’s unique, that has to be our next goal, to bring in more of the cool factor.”

The cool factor could come in locally-owned shops like brew pubs, Hardy said.

“They’re very unique, they have their own flavor, and are very different than Chilis or Rock Bottom, and have local ownership which (resonates) with a lot of people,” Hardy said. “That’s one way to get there, and probably a big part of our next move.”

Northern Colorado’s growth has become somewhat of a magnet for the larger retailers that until now would only open in larger markets such as Denver. Hardy said those retailers look at northern Colorado together when making location decisions.

“Retailers don’t care whether you live in Greeley, Windsor or Loveland,” Hardy said. “They care about how that overall market gets there. Our market has continued to grow over the recession.”

Hardy said Centerra, which in the last year saw $500 million in sales, is drawing more people from outside of Loveland, showing a regional appeal.

Not quite two years ago, in an internal study, Centerra learned that 74 percent of its shoppers came from outside of Loveland.

“I believe many of the things Weld County brings to the northern Colorado region, Larimer County doesn’t have, and some of what Larimer has, Weld doesn’t,” he said. “And when you put it all together in a market, they look at it and say between those towns and cities, they have everything.”

“Retailers don’t care whether you live in Greeley, Windsor or Loveland. They care about how that overall market gets there. Our market has continued to grow over the recession. — Jay Hardy, general manager of Centerra